49, bagged, 6.0, patina, the works

[NickL]

Been a long time lurker and figured I would go ahead and start a build thread. I picked this truck up in the car corral at Goodguys two years ago. It was stuffed in a barn in Washington for 30 years, has killer patina, and was all there. I fell in love.

The original frame was rotted so it's getting an S10 chassis. Other plans are air ride, 3 link rear, 6.0LSX/4L80E, nice interior, vintage air, etc. etc.

These photos are a timeline from 2 years ago with the most recent being today. I work on the truck a lot more now and have been making progress daily, so stay tuned!

Enjoy!







Started tearing it apart.





Couldn't help myself :stickoutt





Bought an S10 longed for dirt cheap, yanked the cab and bed to send to scrap.

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My sick cab removal tool

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Frame with the motor/trans left. Sold the dropout a few weeks later.

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Yanked everything from the 49 frame

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What I ended up with at the end of that night

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Stripped the frame completely (super fun, not) and began to assemble the swap kit from code504 to land all the 49' components on the s10 frame. Picked up a 4x4 rear end from the yard. The s10 frame is the correct width to fit underneath the cab and bed, but with how large the track width is on the 49', the 4x4 rear end helps fill out the fenders.

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Rebuilt the front control arms, energy suspension bushings, proforged super travel balljoints, repainted.

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Fresh front rotors/wheel bearings/ races/seals.

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Assembled with 2" drop spindles, proforged upper and lower balljoints.

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And back on the ground again. Dad had some random old radials laying in the basement which were good to get the chassis back on the ground and size up how it will lay.

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Starting to look like a truck again.

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3 Link came in the mail

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Roller







Cab back on the chassis for a test fit



Support from the pup


Front bags in and finished up. Control arms dehumped, welded, plated, and repainted. Clip on for a test fit


Lays out pretty hard


Found a killer deal on the perfect donor vehicle for the drivetrain. 04 1ton express van with a healthy 6.0 LQ4 and 2WD 4l80e (freshly rebuilt). Had no brakes and the guy wanted out of it. Towed it on home. Pretty sketchy on an 18ft trailer.



Easiest way to pull the motor/trans haha



Frame out, motor out.


Motor back in the shop for tear down




Next up is making the harness stand alone on a 4 fuse 2 relay setup. Then regasket the whole motor, add the TSP 228r cam, valve train upgrades and into the truck it goes for a test fit.

Separated the motor and trans today, removed some things from the motor and got it on the stand for tear down.
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Had some ****ty luck with the trans so I'll have to go get this tigged by a friend. Mistakes happen I guess.



The motor has definitely fought me with its typical Chevy issues, dipstick rusted to the block and broke off, both front manifold bolts broke inside the heads. Next time i'm at the shop ill be tackling those issues and continue to break the motor down and begin cleaning.